Calling for investment in, and creating awareness around, climate resilience in the Vidarbha area, Ambuja Foundation hosted a thought-provoking event in Nagpur yesterday. A number of stakeholders like NGOs, corporates, government, development practitioners, academia and civil society organisations from the region came together to have an open dialogue on this critical subject during the event.

Speakers included eminent experts representing NITI Aayog, NABARD, ICRISAT, renowned key dignitaries in the space like Mr. Popatrao Pawar and known organizations working in water and agriculture in the Vidarbha region. The audience were enlightened with insights and views shared by Mr. Popatrao Pawar, Deputy Sarpanch, Hiware Bazaar, Ahmednagar who is known for the transformation of his village, and is a world renowned speaker on the issue of climate resilience. He said, “It is not the conservation that matters but it is the process after conservation that is the issue. A feeling of ownership amongst the community should be created so that people take care of their water sources.”

There were two panel discussions held in which panelists exchanged views on the need for collective action at a community level to ensure implementation of integrated water management strategies. Members hailing from the local community on the panel shared their experiences of how a behavior of ownership can solve the rising problem of water scarcity in their villages. Panelists also talked about their experiences, the challenges they faced, and the required technologies to be used for water conservation. They said that it was important to train people at the grass-root level and to develop future strategies to enhance sustainable water resource management and climate resilience.

Key speakers who joined virtually highlighted the need for convergence, consortium and collective action from stakeholders and the community. Stakeholder engagement needs to be the basis of any water program. And, discussed that an integrated approach is required to address the challenge of climate resilience. On the other hand, one of the speaker strongly expressed how water indirectly gets polluted once the air and land are polluted. Therefore, it is important to understand grey water management and the importance of using it.

The audience in the room were also filled with experts in water, agriculture, government, policy makers, sarpanches, community members, and universities.

Ambuja Foundation has been making efforts to address the water crisis through implementing several initiatives to further the agenda of sustainable water resource management. It has been working in two districts of the Vidarbha region - Chandrapur and Nagpur - reaching over 1 lakh households across 1100 villages. An integrated water management approach is followed by the Foundation which has led to an increase in surface and groundwater availability. Key impacts of their work in the area include:

· Water table increase by 1.2 mt in monitoring wells,

· 25-30% increase in production due to application of silt,

· Agriculture productivity increased by 10-15%

· Water availability and increased agricultural income has enhanced the adaptive capacity of vulnerable farmers to withstand climate variability.